She Took A Deep Breath And Said, "Goodbye!"

In 2004 Abby Gail left home to go to college at Texas State University where her grandmother and George Strait also attended.  Although at the time her grandmother was there it was called Southwest Texas State College, and when George Strait attended it was Southwest Texas State University.  Same school, same town, different names.  

Abby Gail was born in Texas, we moved to Tennessee when she was six years old.  She has spent the last ten years back in Texas completing her undergrad and post grad years, giving Austin her all.  She loves that town and will miss it along with all her friends.  I think she did all she wanted to do while she was there.  The last few days she crammed in the few remaining things that she has wanted to do but never had the time.  She's made good friends that hated to see her leave as much as she hated to leave, but life takes you in other directions.  

Abby Gail's good friend growing up, Amanda, who also now lives in Texas, was in Tennessee visiting her parents and picking up her dog Buster.  She and her husband had just returned from a fabulous trip to Germany and her parents had been dog sitting.  She found out that Abby Gail was flying in and decided to stay a few days longer so they could see each other.  Abby Gail's plane landed at five and by seven Amanda was here and our house reminded me of their teenage years.  There were hugs all around, and lots of catching up.   I had prepared a special dinner as a welcome back.  We began with Campari cocktails and ended with a dessert I had recreated from a recent trip to Anthony's.  Anthony's, a bakery in Abingdon VA is where I had this amazing s'mores tart.  Hmmm, I'll have to brag on myself.  This dessert was everything I remembered.  Anthony may want to hire me to be one of his bakers.
With the conclusion of the feast and the dishes put away, it was 1:30 in the morning as Abby Gail and Amanda made their way upstairs.   Approaching age twenty nine the girls had a slumber party.  Hey there's no age limit to slumber parties, is there?

Abby Gail and Amanda

Pumpkin Deviled Eggs

To make your deviled eggs looks like pumpkins, just use your favorite deviled egg recipe and add a little orange food coloring.  Mound the filling into the eggs, smoothing with your finger.  With a toothpick draw lines to make pumpkins indentations.  Sprinkle with paprika and place a small snip of chive for the stem.  Whala, you have Pumpkin Deviled Eggs.

S'mores Brownie Tart

Makes: 4

Crust

2 cups plus 1 Tablespoon graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar

1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon butter, melted

Mix above ingredients together and pat into 6 tart pans sprayed with baking spray. Refrigerate. 

Brownies

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, cold

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

large marshmallows

Melt the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a large bowl in the microwave.  Melt in 30 second increments and stir after each time until the butter is completely melted.  The mixture will look gritty.  Set aside for a few minutes as you get the other ingredients ready  You don't want the mixture to be piping hot.

Stir in the vanilla extract.  Add the eggs one at a time, stirring after each addition. The batter will be thick and look shiny.  Add the flour, beating with a whisk until fully combined.  Try not to over mix the batter at this point.  Spoon into crust.

Bake for 28 minutes.  Remove from the oven and top with marshmallows.  Return to the oven and continue to bake for an additional 3 minutes to melt the marshmallows.  If the marshmallows aren't toasted, turn on your broiler for 1 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperate removing from tart pan.  Recipe adapted from: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/05/06/smores-brownie-pie/